GOOSE CREEK — Bluffton High lost a quarterfinal playoff game Friday, but its season isn’t necessarily over.

Top-ranked Goose Creek held off the Bobcats 35-25 in a Class AAAA Division II matchup, forcing six turnovers.

Both teams’ playoff fortunes won’t be decided until Monday, however, when the South Carolina High School League holds a hearing to determine if Goose Creek will be disqualified for using an ineligible player this season.

“We do have a chance,” Bluffton receiver Demetrius Smalls said, “and I would like to have it back so we can finish this run.”

Goose Creek was disqualified once early this week after the school self-reported the violation. Its appeal to be reinstated was denied by the SCHSL executive committee Wednesday. The Berkeley County School District responded with a lawsuit and circuit judge Roger Young ruled Friday afternoon the Gators could play in the quarterfinals.

But Young ordered the SCHSL to reconvene at 2 p.m. Monday to reconsider its original ruling, so Goose Creek could be disqualified again next week.

The league executive committee turned down the school's appeal by 9-2 and 10-1 votes Wednesday.

If the Gators (13-0) are removed from the playoffs for a second time, Bluffton would advance to play Northwestern on Friday in the semifinals.

Bluffton began the day preparing to host Conway, the team Goose Creek beat 48-7 in the first round. When word came down near 12:30 p.m. that the Gators had been reinstated, coach Ken Cribb and his Bluffton players had to change their plans and make the two-hour bus ride to Goose Creek.

“It was a scramble,” Cribb said. “I don’t agree with the process that went on, but I’m not taking sides.”

Despite a hectic week, the Bobcats hung tough against a team that is ranked as high as No. 11 in national polls. Their offense often moved the ball with ease, but four lost fumbles and two interceptions were the difference.

Bluffton (11-2) turned it over four times in the first half to fall behind 28-13. Two second-half fumbles in the red zone kept the Bobcats from getting within one score.

Goose Creek’s Rico Blanding ran in one of his three first-half touchdowns for a 7-0 lead eight minutes into the first quarter. Bluffton receiver Marquis Webber lost his second fumble after a long completion, which led to a Gator score, and Omar McRae returned an interception 22 yards for a 21-0 lead.

Senior C.J. Frazier threw a pair of 15-yard touchdown passes to Webber and Smalls to keep the Bobcats in it.

A 45-yard touchdown run by Gerald Roberson cut it to 28-19 early in the third quarter, but the two-point conversion failed. Tramel Terry extended the lead to 35-19 with a 1-yard run in the fourth.

Frazier passed for 315 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in what could have been the final game of his career. It all depends on the outcome of Monday’s hearing.

“Hopefully we’ll get to play next week,” Frazier said. “But we should have won this one.”

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